NY-LON by Favour Jonathan

NY—LON.

FAVOUR JONATHAN, SHADES OF NOIR.

On the 1st of November we all took our seats in the lecture theatre at (LCC) the London College of Communication, University of the Arts London, to watch the journey of students who had just finished the Nylon programme and who are from a widening participation background at UAL. They had worked on a collaborative brief with some students from New York at the Shawn Carter foundation.

This programme is quite close to my heart as I took part a few years ago and met some amazing people who I still keep in touch with today. The programme is built around informing, educating and getting students out of a bubble. It gives students glimpses of the different opportunities that are out there for us.

In New York The Shawn Carter Foundation which was founded as a public charity in 2003 by Gloria Carter and son Shawn Carter aka Jay Z, aims to do the same with the collaboration in this Nylon program.

Many of their other programs: Scholarship Fund, College Prep and Exposure, International Exposure, Professional Development, Scholar Support and Community & Goodwill Programs help young people to see their future and point them towards their own individual direction.

NYLON involves students from any course at UALl who signed up for the programme and were chosen for their dedication and hard work after the first week in London. They then get the opportunity to travel across to New York with Shawn Carter foundation

scholarship student in collaboration with volt 49 to carry on working on the fast live brief.

This year the students came up with “my first time” using screen printing, graphics design and their personal experiences to tell a story through text.

It’s not just an exchange, the programme teaches and equips students with the skills needed to be able to tackle different tasks, gain experience, collaborate with students from all types of backgrounds i.e science. Bringing a different perspective to the table and connections for their future.

“We want students to learn new skills and come up with new ideas in and out of their fields. It gives students the opportunity to get out of their comfort zones and explore new territory t”

John Glasgow (LCC) a former student travelled in from New York to introduce the film. He told us all a lovely story about meeting his business partner at the screen printing room at Lcc whilst admiring each other’s work to later starting a company together that’s standing strong today. A company of 35 people with 25 of them being creatives, working and growing together as Volt 49.

Glasgow said ‘Screen printing and craft is the heart of their company and when Lawrence Lartey founder of the program came to him with the idea of working and educating students with volt 49 he saw this as an opportunity to give

back to students from a working class background and to say thank you.’

“Giving back to these students it’s something that I’ve wanted to do for years, knowing that a lot of hard work and determination can get you there. So for these young students here and I’ve been speaking to a lot of them, for them to hear my journey, hear the story and see someone that looked just like them. It motivates them.”

Participating students Responses:Stacy: 2nd year Textile student

“A great opportunity for me to learn how to market myself and my work.”

Hannah: 3rd year Branding and Identity student

“We were able to collaborate well and produced something beautiful in such a short amount of time.”

Celine: 3rd year Graphics Design student

“I learnt to develop my skills and work with people from different backgrounds.”

Kiano: 3rd year Public Curation student

“We had a really short time span to come up with the idea and fully present it, I’m really proud of what we’ve done.”

Moniqua: 3rd year Media Communication student

“Through participating with Nylon I can now say I have an international professional network.”

Hannah: Graphics Branding and Identity

“Projects like Nylon is really important for widening participation students, it give us the chance to grow our network and develop skills which we might not have otherwise.”